Business management computer program to reduce navigation among screens while preparing a purchase order

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing a single screen interactive display to facilitate the purchase of goods and/or services over a global computer network such as the Internet. A single screen interactive program is downloaded form a merchant website to a user computer based on user request. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a display device including a display, a memory including one or more instructions, and a processor coupled to the memory and display device. The processor, in response to the one or more instructions, provides a catalogue of one or more product categories in a first frame of the display, and provides, in a second frame of the display, a list of one or more products in a product category selected by a user. The list includes an icon next to each product. The processor further provides, in a third frame of the display, a shopping cart list of one or more products added by selection of an icon in the second frame associated with the one or more products.

We claim:  
     
         1 . A business management computer program for a server to execute to communicate with a client by transmitting control structures and data to the client to enable the client to control a display while an operator effects single-screen shopping by responding to prompts to prepare and edit a purchase order for at least one item without burdensome navigation among multiple screens, and to transmit the purchase order to the server, the program comprising: 
 means activated in response to receipt of an address from the client to transmit control structures and data for establishing on the display a prompting and reporting screen for effecting single-screen shopping;    the control structures including means for causing the prompting and reporting screen to include a price-list area for showing offered items and a shopping-cart area for showing an extended-price containing list of items copied from the price list;    means for providing data defining a set of categories to be shown in the prompting and reporting screen, the set of categories including a plurality of classes for prompting the operator to cause transmission of class-identifying data;    means responsive to receipt of the class-identifying data for retrieving and providing data defining the offered items to be shown in the price-list area, for prompting the operator to add items to a purchase order being prepared;    the control structures including means for interactively prompting the operator either to edit the purchase order being prepared or transmit it to the server, the means for interactively prompting including means for providing operator-established data defining the extended-price containing list of items to be shown in the shopping-cart area, the extended-price containing list of items interactively expanding and contracting in terms of number of entries as the operator responds to prompts while effecting single-screen shopping that is facilitated by showing the same item simultaneously in the price-list area and the shopping-cart area.    
     
     
         2 . An apparatus for providing a single screen interactive display, comprising: 
 a display device for displaying a prompting and reporting screen;    a memory including a plurality of instructions;    a processor coupled to the memory and display device, the processor, in response to the instructions, causing the display device to display within the prompting and reporting screen: 
 a catalogue of one or more product categories;  
 an offered-items list of one or more products in a product category selected by a user, the offered-items list including an icon next to each product; and  
 a shopping cart list of one or more products added by selection of an icon in the offered-items list,  
   the prompting and reporting screen showing the same item simultaneously in the price-list area and the shopping-cart area.    
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2  wherein the processor causes the the prompting and reporting screen to provide, in a designated area, an image of a selected product.  
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 2  wherein the offered-items list includes a price and a description associated with each product.  
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 2  wherein said shopping cart list includes one or more of a description, price, quantity, and total price associated with each product.  
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , and further including a subtotal field that specifies the total price of the one or more products in the shopping cart list.  
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , and further including an update icon to cause the processor to transmit a current state including values in the shopping cart list to a server over a network.  
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , and further including a restore icon to cause the processor to retrieve the current state from the servers.  
     
     
         9 . A computer program product, comprising: 
 a computer usable medium having computer program code embodied therein to display a catalogue of one or more product categories in a first portion of a display screen;    computer readable program code to display, in a second portion of the display screen, a list of one or more products in a product category selected by a user, said list including an icon next to each product; and    computer readable program code to display, in a third portion of the display screen a shopping cart list of one or more products added by selection of an icon in the second portion of the display screen associated with the one or more products, the third portion having a landscape orientation, and the shopping cart list and the list of products in operation showing the same item simultaneously.    
     
     
         10 . The computer program product of  claim 9  further comprising: 
 computer readable program code to display, in a fourth portion of the display screen, an image of a selected product.  
 
     
     
         11 . The computer program product of  claim 9  further comprising computer readable program code to display, in the second portion of the display screen, a price and a description associated with each product.  
     
     
         12 . The computer program product of  claim 9  further comprising computer readable program code to display, in the third portion of the display screen, one or more of a description, price, quantity, and total price associated with each product.  
     
     
         13 . The computer program product of  claim 9  further comprising computer readable program code to display, in the third portion of the display screen, a subtotal field that specifies the total price of the one or more products in the shopping cart list.  
     
     
         14 . The computer program product of  claim 9  further comprising computer readable program code to display, in the third portion of the display screen, an update icon to cause the processor to transmit a current state including values in the shopping cart list to a server over a network.  
     
     
         15 . The computer program product of  claim 9  further comprising computer readable program code to display, in the third portion of the display screen, a restore icon to cause the processor to retrieve the current state from the servers.